Our reputation

Undergraduate student with the Formula student racing car in the School of Mechanical Engineering

Top 10 in the UK for Mechanical Engineering, Complete University Guide 2024

Globally renowned for our teaching and research, the School of Mechanical Engineering is one of the leading mechanical engineering schools in the UK. We have over 1,500 students from over 60 countries studying with us.

The quality of our research, and the funding it attracts, means we’re able to invest in world-class facilities and academic staff who are actively engaged in cutting-edge research, which means you will be taught by internationally renowned, inspirational academics working at the top of their fields.

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Academic excellence

Gender equality

We have been commended for our strong and continued commitment to gender equality in the form of a prestigious Athena SWAN Silver award.

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021

Every six years, the UK’s four higher education funding bodies undertake an exercise to measure the quality of research undertaken by UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The funding bodies use the outcomes to inform the allocation of their research funding to HEIs. The Research Excellence Framework was the framework used in 2021.

Unit of assessment: Engineering

  • 3.51 overall quality profile
  • 97% of research activity submitted by the Faculty of Engineering is "world-leading" and "internationally excellent".
  • 96% of research outputs submitted by the Faculty of Engineering are “world-leading” and “internationally excellent”
  • 95% of our impact submission, covering our research contributions to society, academia and industry, are “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”
  • 88% of the Engineering Environment submission rated as “world-leading”